Yee Haw!!

In case you haven't heard we're moving.  To Texas.  Mckinney, Texas.   

Mckinney is approximately 30 miles north of Dallas, 6 1/2 hours from Springfield, 8 hours from Kansas City and 10 hours from St. Louis.   Apart from good BBQ and cowboy boots, why are we doing this?  
When Todd signed up for his awesome job 2 1/2 years ago we agreed to 2 things: Todd needed to get his MBA (check) and Todd needed to move at the end of his position/degree (soon to be check).   We love his company and he was called about a job in Mckinney that seemed to fit his strengths to a T.   Todd visited back in April and interviewed for the position and the next morning he was offered the job. (yep, he's that awesome.)  A couple of weeks ago I joined him for a house hunting trip for 5 days and 4 nights.   Lets pause here.  
You tell a husband and wife of 2 small children that they can go anywhere without their children for 5 days 4 nights and they will love it.   Then you tell them that you will fit the bill for everything and they might just call it their second honeymoon. (that is actually what I've been calling it).   I can't tell if it was the whole second honeymoon thing, or if McKinney is really going to be awesome or not, but I loved it**.    What did I love about it (apart than the above reasons?)

1.) Ikea.   Do I even need to explain? 

2.) McKinney Square.  This is one of the things we love the most about Maplewood.   We love an old downtown with mom and pop restaurants and stores.   We were down on the square daily and met some cool people and experienced yummy food and cool stores.  

3.) Providence Church.  I am definitely not saying we found a church home, but we visited this church and really liked it.   When I think Texas, I think Mega.   I'm not saying Mega is bad, but we just prefer a smaller church community.   This was was the right size and had good teaching.   I'm sure there are other great church's that we will check out once we are there.   (There sure were a lot of church planters at all of the coffee shops we visited...some wearing MU shirts!)  

4.) The people.   At pretty much every restaurant we were greeted by friendly people that wanted to tell us all about their town!   This was a great, warm, welcome.

5.) First Baptist Learning Center.  After a lot of preschool hunting we finally settled on this one for BOTH of the kids : )  Yep, lil' Anna will be carrying a backpack 2 days/week next year.    We loved the facility and the curriculum.   Both kids will have Spanish, Music and Fitness built into their day and Eli will begin learning to read, write, and beginning Math....seriously (this actually was everywhere...it's the Texas standard).

6.) Shopping.  Ikea is it's own category, but shopping deserves a shout out too!   Not only do they have everything that I frequent in St. Louis but a ton more.   Here's a fun fact...there are more shops per capita than any other place in the U.S.   Yep.  

7.) Corporate Housing.   To piggy back on the above...look where we will be staying for 30 + days while we continue to look  for a house?  This will probably end up being terrible with 2 young ones in tow, but we are sure going to give it our best effort...urban style apartment by all the shops!  http://www.shopsatlegacy.com/

8.) Family.   Not only do my Aunt and Uncle live 15 minutes away, but my cousin lives 1 hour away!  There are also a lot of second cousins, etc. in the area that I have yet to reconnect with and some sorority sisters and old friends in the area that I'm excited to see again!   (but yes, I'm going to miss the rest of you terribly...please visit).

 That about sums it up!
 
**In case you are wondering this blog is not only for informational purposes, but an attempt to cheer myself up about the move in the midst of being extremely sad about leaving loved ones.  Love you all!!